NIXA, Mo. — Daniela Marquez recorded a hat track as fifth-seeded Carthage defeated fourth-seeded Springfield Central 5-0 in a quarterfinal contest of the Class 4 District 5 girls soccer tournament on Saturday at Nixa High School.
Carthage will meet top-seeded Kickapoo at 5 on Tuesday in the semifinals.
Marquez scored Carthage’s first goal at the 35:45 mark of the first half. Her second and third goals finished off the win.
In addition to Marquez’s three goals, Carthage received goals from Kianna Yates and Giana De La Pena.
Yates scored on a corner kick with just over 11 minutes remaining in the first half. De La Pena’s goal made it 3-0 with just under 24 minutes to play.
In Saturday’s other action, second-seeded Ozark defeated seventh-seeded Joplin 8-0, third-seeded Nixa beat sixth-seeded Republic 7-0 and Kickapoo topped eighth-seeded Neosho 14-0.
Joplin ends the season with a record of 5-12.
Ozark and Nixa will meet in the second semifinal at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The district title match is slated for 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 18.
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Neosho Wildcats boys track and field team made history for the second meet in a row.
On May 4, at Ozark High School, the Neosho boys won their first Central Ozark Conference team title in program history.
On Saturday, trailing Nixa entering the final event of the 4×400, Neosho’s relay of freshman William Ebbinghaus, sophomore Isaiah Keezer, senior Isaiah Green and junior Izaiah Hill rallied past the field down the back stretch with a winning time of 3 minutes and 26 seconds and secured the program’s first district track title since 1979.
Neosho won with 127 points and Nixa finished second with 121. Joplin was third with 107, Kickapoo fourth at 97, Ozark fifth at 68, Republic sixth at 64, Branson seventh at 59, Carthage eighth at 58 and Parkview ninth at 38.
“Super exciting,” Neosho boys coach Randy Mustain said. “We had a similar situation last week at the conference championship, which we won for the first time in program history being in the COC. We were down one point to Webb City, and we came in and competed and the kids just had an awesome night PR’d in the 4×4 and came back tonight. …
“We’re tired. You know, some of those guys ran four or five events tonight and came back and battled hard and pulled through for us. I’m super proud of them. To be able to come back and win that event to cap it off tonight, there’s nothing more sweet.”
The excitement around the final event could be felt and heard around Carthage’s David Haffner Stadium, especially as the anchor legs cranked up their engines and hit their accelerators for that final push toward the finish line.
Neosho senior Tyrese Hill looks to the scoreboard while finishing the 200-meter dash on Saturday at David Haffner Stadium in Carthage. Hill took first in the finals with a time of 22.46 seconds. Photo by Brennan Stebbins.
The excitement continued for Neosho after the race, as they celebrated like it was 1979, culminating in Mustain being surrounded and given the customary Gatorade shower.
“We’ve got a great group of guys on the 4×4,” Mustain said. “We’re pretty young there at the start of the race. We start off with a sophomore and a freshman who are coming on strong and training well for us. Then, you roll into a senior (Green). We use the term ‘dog’ in our program, and he’s a dog. He just absolutely goes after it and battles, and he did everything he could to give Izaiah a chance. I knew he could do that. We were super excited for him.
“I told Izaiah before the race, Izaiah Hill, our anchor leg, I said, I wouldn’t want it in anybody else’s hands. I’m super proud of him, and he handled himself very well.”
Neosho senior Tyrese Hill won the 100 in 10.81 and the 200 in 22.46, while Izaiah Hill won the 400 in 49.99.
The 4×200 of Tyrese Hill, Izaiah Hill, Keezer, and Tyrone Harris finished third in 1:31 and the 4×100 of Brock Franklin, Tyrese Hill, Jared Siler, and Harris placed fourth in 43.53.
Green won the triple jump at 44 feet and 11 inches and Siler placed fourth at 42-9.75. Green and Siler finished third and fourth in the long jump at 21-8.75 and 21-7.25 respectively, while Siler placed fourth in the high jump at 6-2.75.
Collyn Kivett won the javelin with a toss of 164-1 and Carter Baslee finished third in the discus with a mark of 150-6.
Neosho qualified in all these events for next Saturday’s Class 5 Sectional 3 meet hosted by Parkview, and the top four sectional finishers advance to the state meet the last weekend in May in Jefferson City.
“Those guys, they have known that they can do something special from the beginning,” Mustain said. “We’ve continued to preach that. We started this season off with a plywood state plaque we cut out and we put ‘Victory takes payment in advance’ in front of that and on the back, we put every team we were going to face at conference and districts. We said that this is what we want, and this is what our program is striving for.
“It’s the first time in 44 years the Neosho boys track and field program has won a district title. We’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.
“This is Year Six for me as the head coach of this program. We’ve seen it grow every year, and that’s not a testament to me, it’s a testament to the kids coming into the weight room. Coach (Brandon) Taute does a great job with them in the weight room. Just having him in there driving those kids helps a lot.
“I have awesome assistant coaches that … at the beginning of the year, we were looking at districts and we were scheduled to get zero points in the throws. We came out today and I think we scored 22 points in the throws. I’m extremely proud of our kids there. All of our coaches do a great job, they’ve got our kids bought in, we’re a family, we love each other, they know that, and they’ll go to battle for each other all the time.”
Mustain’s assistants are Drew Harmon, Frank Hebert, Desmond Williams, and Josh Yarnell.
Carthage senior Miguel Solano leads the pack in the 800 on Saturday at the district meet hosted by the Tigers. Photo by Brennan Stebbins.
CARTHAGE HIGHLIGHTS
The host Carthage Tigers finished eighth Saturday in the overall standings and qualified for sectionals in six different events.
Miguel Solano won the 800 in 1:58.88, just .07 ahead of Joplin’s Hobbs Campbell, and Daryl Martin finished third in both the 110 hurdles in 15.73 and the 300 hurdles in 40.66.
The 4×800 of Trey Nye, Solano, Caleb Fewin, and Michael Lanyon finished third in 8:19 and the 4×400 of Braxton McBride, Solano, Nye, and Joseph Childs also finished third in 3:27.
Trent Yates placed second in the triple jump at 43-1.5 and Micah Lindsey also finished second in the shot put at 54-7.5.
“I think we came out and competed,” Carthage boys coach Logan Wilson said. “At the very start of the day I told them, ‘Hey, go get another PR and we’ll see how we fall.’ That’s what we did. We got PRs across the board, and a couple of our teams were lucky to be fast enough to move on. We had a shot putter go through, we had a triple jumper go through, and our hurdler got through at 110 and 300. We told them at the beginning of the year to come out and get better every day and that’s exactly what they did.”
District 6 qualifiers and District 5 qualifiers from schools Camdenton, Capital City, Eureka, Glendale, Lafayette (Wildwood), Lebanon, Northwest (Cedar Hill), Springfield Central, Waynesville, and Willard meet at sectionals.
“It’s hard,” Wilson said. “When you’re going to a Class 5 sectional, it’s hard. You’ve got kids that are top ranked in the state in every event. It’s going to be tough, but we’re going to go there with the same mentality. We’re going to compete, and where the chips fall is where they’re going to fall. We’ve got two guys ranked at the top of sectionals right now, so we like our odds. At the end of the day, we just want a chance to compete, and we earned that today.”
Joplin sophomore Tayshaun Palmer takes the baton from junior Quinton Renfro during the 4×100 relay at Saturday’s Class 5 District 6 meet. Joplin won the event in 42.95 seconds.
JOPLIN HIGHLIGHTS
The Joplin Eagles finished third on the boys side Saturday and qualified in 11 events for sectionals at Parkview.
Senior distance standout Hobbs Campbell won the 1600 in 4:18 and finished second in the 800 in 1:58 and the 3200 in 9:48, while Orion Norris raced to fourth in the 200 in 23.03.
The 4×100 of Quinton Renfro, Tayshaun Palmer, Norris, and Davin Thomas won in 42.95 and the 4×200 of Palmer, Aiden Scourten, Norris, and Davin Thomas finished second in 1:31.
Renfro took second in the long jump with a leap of 21-10, freshman high jumper Cordell Washington finished third at 6-3.5, freshman Neil Barstow’s heave of 146-10 earned him fourth in the discus (three of the four sectional qualifiers in the discus are freshmen), Dontrell Holt placed fourth in the shot put at 49-6.5, and Drew VanGilder also placed fourth in the javelin at 152-7.
Joplin junior Kiki Thom won the 300-meter hurdles in 47.48 seconds at Saturday’s Class 5 District 6 meet in Carthage. Photo by Brennan Stebbins/Special to SoMo Sports.
GIRLS HIGHLIGHTS
On the girls side, the Joplin Eagles finished fifth with 83 points and qualified in nine events for sectionals next Saturday at Parkview.
Joplin freshman Brylee Strickland especially proved to be fleet of foot Saturday, qualifying for sectionals in three individual sprinting events and one sprint relay.
Strickland sprinted to second in the 100 in 12.53, won the 200 in 26.30, and finished third in the 400 in 1:01.
Strickland also ran the anchor leg on the second place 4×100 relay with their 49.52 time. Sophomore sprinters Phia Vogel and Abigayle Lowery, along with junior Abigail Eckert, joined Strickland on the relay.
Junior hurdler Kiki Thom won a district title in the 300 hurdles in 47.48, Vogel placed fourth in the 100 in 12.81, and Lowery also placed fourth in the 200 in 26.79.
Maria Loum finished third in the pole vault at 10-0 and Kendall Nyarango also finished third in the long jump at 17-4.75.
The host Carthage Tigers tallied 64 points to finish sixth and qualified in five events for sectionals.
Carthage senior Joey Hettinger won a district title with a high clearance of 5-2.25 in the high jump, and she was the lone athlete in her event to clear 5-0 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, freshman Chasity Straw finished second in the discus with a heave of 104-9 and Lilly Holmes and Karlie Nichols finished second and third in the shot at 35-0.25 and 34-9.5.
Lexa Youngblood placed fourth in the 400 in 1:03 and the 4×400 of Aven Willis, Evelyn Carrol, Maggie Boyd, and Youngblood also placed fourth in 4:16.
The Neosho Wildcats totaled 26.5 points to take ninth in the standings and qualified in one event for sectionals, as freshman Jazmyn Washington finished second in the 100 hurdles in 16.01.
Joplin sophomore Davin Thomas finished fourth in the 100-meter dash to earn a spot in next weekend’s sectional meet.
HOLLISTER, Mo. — The College Heights Christian School girls were among the teams competing at the Class 3 District 6 track meet on Saturday at Hollister High School.
The top four finishers in each event advanced to next Saturday’s sectional meet in West Plains.
COLLEGE HEIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS
The team of Jayli Johnson, Allie Stout, Lauren Ukena and Jesalin Bever won the 4×200-meter relay with a time of 1:48.
The CHC girls were third in the 4×100 relay, with Johnson, Stout, Ukena and Addison Lawrence competing.
The team of Bever, Johnson, Stout and Ukena took fourth in the 4×400.
Also for the CHC girls, Ukena took second in the 200, Johnson took fourth in the 400 and Bever finished fourth in both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles.
SENECA HIGHLIGHTS
Seneca’s Isabella Renfro placed second in the shot put with a toss of 35-0.75, while Cambry Long took third in two events, the 200 (27.87 seconds) and the 400 (1:01).
Seneca’s girls finished fourth in the 4×200, with Savannah Johnson, Addyson Jones, Anna Adkins and Long competing.
Seneca’s 4×200 relay team of Jackson Marrs, Ethan Altic, Blake Hurn, Brodie Probert just missed qualifying after finishing fifth.
Grant Landers finished fifth in the triple jump and the Indians were sixth in the 4×100.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Lamar’s boys and Clever’s girls were the team champions.
Winning events for the Lamar boys were Tyson Williams (discus), Trace Wooldridge (shot put), Carson Sturgell (pole vault) and Ian Ngugi (100).
East Newton’s Chase Sorrell won three events, the 800, 1600 and 3200. East Newton’s Michael Crowe won the high jump.
Cassville’s Charles Elliott (300 H) and Ashton Wheeler (long jump) were district champs.
Winning individual events in the girls meet were Aurora’s Makena Hall (pole vault, 100 hurdles) and Lamar’s Elise Ferris (long jump), Addison Brown (discus) and Kiersten Potter (3200).
HOLLISTER, Mo. — Webb City’s boys track and field squad captured the Class 4 District 6 championship on Saturday at Hollister High School.
The Cardinals compiled 169 points and Marshfield was second with 144.
The Webb City girls were second in the team standings with 140 points. Marshfield was first with 168.
At the district meet, the top four finishers in each event advanced to next Saturday’s sectional meet in West Plains.
WEBB CITY HIGHLIGHTS
Webb City’s boys won six events and took second in four events.
Overall, Webb City advanced 19 entries to the sectional in 15 events. The Cardinals had two qualifiers in four different events (javelin, pole vault, 110 hurdles, 1600).
Defending state champion Grayson Smith was the district champ in the pole vault after clearing 15-7 and senior Trey Roets won the javelin with a toss of 177-3.
Webb City junior Evan Stevens won a pair of individual events, the 1600 in 4:38 and the 3200 in 10:06.
Nate Miller was the runner-up in the discus (145-4), Jordan Thornburg took second in the 100-meter dash (11.15 seconds) and Mason Hedger was second in the 800 (2:03).
Ryan Reid placed third in the high jump, Tucker Liberatore was third in the javelin, Jadon Brisco took third in the pole vault and Noah Moss finished third in two events, the 400 and the 110 hurdles.
Eric Lathan (shot put), Atticus Luzadder (1600) and Jace Jones (110 H) all finished fourth.
Webb City’s boys advanced in all four relays.
The Cardinals won the 4×800 relay in 8:26, with Hedger, Dakota Grove, Noah Lankford and Stevens competing.
Webb City’s 4×100 team took first in 43.24 seconds and Webb City was second in the 4×200.
The Cardinals placed third in the 4×400.
Webb City’s girls won five events and advanced to the sectional in 11 events.
Webb City senior standout Abi Street won two individual events and finished second in another.
A Kansas signee, Street won the 1600 in 5:43 and also crossed the line first in the 3200 in 12:30.
Street was the runner-up in the 800 with a time of 2:25, as her teammate Brooke Hedger took first in 2:21. A freshman, Hedger took second to her teammate Street in the 1600.
Cardinals junior Dawsyn Decker won the javelin with a toss of 131-2.
Also, Lily McCaw was the runner-up in the pole vault, Essence Robinson took second in the 400, Chase Stilley placed third in the high jump, Emily Countryman was third in the 3200 and Aubree Lassiter placed third in the discus.
The Webb City girls also fared well in the relays.
Featuring Robinson, Stilley, Aspen White and Hedger, Webb City’s girls won the 4×400 relay in 4:14.
The team of White, Kristina Bundy, Countryman and Street finished second in the 4×800 relay.
The Cardinals were also second in the 4×100, with Kylie Jennings, Stilley, Alyssa Moreno and Robinson running.
CARL JUNCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Carl Junction sophomore Sydney Ward won two events, the 100-meter dash in 12.33 seconds and the 200 in 25.91.
Also for the CJ girls, Bella Montez crossed the line first in the 300 hurdles in 49.59 seconds, while Acadia Badgley won the pole vault by clearing 10 feet even.
Madilyn Olds finished fourth in the javelin.
Carl Junction’s 4×200 relay team of Olivia Battagler, Destiny Buerge, Dezi Williams and Ward took third.
The Bulldogs were third in the 4×100, with Battagler, Buerge, Bella Montez and Ward competing.
For the Carl Junction boys, Donnie Keith placed third in the discus, Braxton Dodds was fourth in the javelin and Dexter Merrell finished fourth in the 300 hurdles.
MCDONALD COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS
McDonald County’s 4×400 relay team of Dominic Cervantes, Hunter Leach, Dalton McClain and Josh Pacheco took first in 3:30.
The Mustangs were third in the 4×800 relay, with Tyler Rothrock, McClain, Miguel Mora and Leach competing.
The Mustangs also finished third in the 4×100 relay, with Samuel Barton, Esteban Martinez-Olvera, Cervantes and Josh Pacheco running.
Pacheco took third in the triple jump, while Leach was third in the 800, Toby Moore finished third in the shot put and fourth in the discus and Cervantes placed fourth in the 400.
The Mac County girls took second in the 4×400 relay, with Clara Horton, Corina Holland, Ireona Nirka and Anna Price competing.
The team’s 4×800 relay finished fourth, with Horton, Kate Cheney, Dallie Racher and Price competing.
Holland placed third in the 400 and Lacey Nix finished fourth in the pole vault.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Monett’s Konner Poynter won three events, the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the 200-meter dash. He was also fourth in the 100.
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. — College Heights Christian, Thomas Jefferson and McAuley Catholic had athletes qualify for the state track meet with their performances at their respective sectional meets on Saturday at School of the Ozarks.
College Heights’ boys were among the teams competing at the Class 2 Sectional 3 meet, while Thomas Jefferson and McAuley competed in Class 1.
The top four finishers in each event advanced to the state meet.
COLLEGE HEIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS
The College Heights boys won the Class 2 4×200-meter relay in 1:35, with Logan Decker, Levi Durling, Caleb Quade and Colsen Dickens competing.
A junior, Quade advanced to state in two individual events, as he was the runner-up in both the triple jump (12.16m) and the long jump (6.03m).
Also of note, the CHC girls competed at a Class 3 district meet on Saturday. See a related story.
THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGHLIGHTS
Thomas Jefferson senior Kip Atteberry advanced to the Class 1 state meet in three individual events—the 800, 1600 and 3200.
Atteberry finished fourth in all three events. He recorded a time of 2;03 in the 800 in 2:03, finished the 1600 in 4:39 and the 3200 in 10:41.
Tyler Brouhard advanced in two events, as the senior was fourth in both the 100-meter dash (11.87) and the 200 (23.93 seconds).
TJ’s Jay Ball just missed advancing in both the discus (fifth) and shot put (sixth).
Like the TJ boys, Thomas Jefferson’s girls advanced in five events.
The Cavaliers fared well in the field events. Nico Carlson won the high jump (1.48m), Gabriella Hiebert took second in the long jump (4.63m) and tied for second in the high jump (1.4m), while Lannah Grigg placed third in the discus (29.96m) and Avery Hocker finished fourth in the triple jump (9.52m).
Also advancing was Macie Shifferd, who was second in the 3200 (13:59).
The TJ girls just missed qualifying in the 4×800 after finishing fifth. The Cavaliers were also sixth in the 4×100.
Thomas Jefferson’s girls finished fourth in the team standings, while the TJ boys were sixth.
MCAULEY CATHOLIC HIGHLIGHTS
McAuley Catholic junior Kendall Ramsey won two events in the girls meet, the 3200 in 12:27 and the 1600 in 5:50.
On the boys side, McAuley senior Joe Staton finished fourth in the pole vault (2.87m) and sophomore Roscoe Miller placed fourth in the javelin (36.06m) to give the Warriors a pair of individual qualifiers.
McAuley’s boys finished fifth in three relays, as the 4×100, the 4×400 and the 4×800 all just missed qualifying. Also, Michael Parrigon just missed advancing in two events, as he was fifth in the 1600 and sixth in the 800.
McAuley’s boys were 11th in the standings and the McAuley girls were 13th.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
The Class 1 team champions were the Appleton City girls and Hermitage boys.
Sarcoxie’s girls and Stockton’s boys won the team titles in Class 2.
In Class 2, Diamond’s Zachary Roughton won the 300 hurdles and was the runner-up in the 110 hurdles.
Jasper’s Crystal Smith won four girls events in Class 2 — the 200, the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the high jump.
Winning events for Sarcoxie were Ariel Wilson (girls 400) and Jaron Malotte (boys 110 hurdles).
CASSVILLE, Mo. — Third-seeded Seneca plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a walk-off 2-1 against sixth-seeded Reeds Spring in the Class 4 District 11 opening round in Cassville on Saturday.
An error on Reeds Spring (4-24) to start the bottom of the seventh followed by a single from Cade Galindo put runners on first and second with no outs for Seneca (17-12). Kaden Clouse dropped down a sacrifice bunt and reached on an error by the Wolves that also allowed the tying run to score. After an intentional walk to load the bases, Lincoln Renfro brought home the winning run with a fielder’s choice to send the Indians to the next round.
Renfro had one hit and one RBI for Seneca, while Galindo had a hit and scored a run. Drew Sherwood also recorded a hit for Seneca.
Grant Houchin earned the no-decision on the mound for the Indians after allowing one run on two hits, three walks and seven strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Sherwood earned the win in a scoreless 1/3 of an inning in relief.
Blake Seige took the loss after allowing two unearned runs on two hits, three walks and eight strikeouts in six innings.
Seneca advances to take on second-seeded Mount Vernon (11-11) in the district semifinals at 6 p.m. on Monday.
On Saturday, trailing Nixa entering the final event of the 4×400, Neosho’s relay of freshman William Ebbinghaus, sophomore Isaiah Keezer, senior Isaiah Green and junior Izaiah Hill rallied past the field down the back stretch with a winning time of 3 minutes and 26 seconds and secured the program’s first district track title since 1979.
